School of Law

Hillary A. Sale, JD, was installed as the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law March 25 in the Trial Courtroom, Room 309, of Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Reconciliation is a “fast-track” legislative process that bypasses potential Senate gridlock and permits the passage of budget-related legislation by majority vote. It’s a hot-button issue now as the Senate grapples with health-care legislation. “The passage this term of health-care legislation, and perhaps the future of health care reform more generally now may turn on rulings of the current parliamentarian,” says Cheryl Block, JD, professor of law. 

Top international criminal law experts will unveil and discuss a draft of a multilateral treaty condemning and prohibiting crimes against humanity during a conference March 11 and 12 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The treaty is the culmination of a two-year Crimes Against Humanity Initiative at the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. UPDATE: View the Declaration on the Need for a Comprehensive Convention on Crimes Against Humanity (including a list of supporters).  

The School of Law is hosting a screening and panel discussion of the award-winning documentary “Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 15. Operation Babylift airlifted more than 2,500 Vietnamese orphans out of a war-torn country in 1975 to protect them from the impending threat of the Communist regime. Called one of the “most humanitarian efforts in history,” it was plagued by lawsuits and political turmoil. The event is free, but registration is required. 

The Brookings Institution and Washington University in St. Louis announce the first recipients of grants from the Academic Venture Fund, the purpose of which is  to support collaboration between the two institutions, particularly long-term projects that impact research, education and policy. Grants are available in amounts from $20,000 to $50,000. Interested fellows, faculty, staff, centers, institutes and programs can submit proposals by June 1 for review in July 2010. 

The small increase in take-home pay that began in April 2009 through the Making Work Pay Credit (MWPC) could mean an unexpected bump in your tax bill says Cheryl Block, tax law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. The problem, according to Block, is that the Treasury Department’s new withholding tables do not take several individual employment circumstances into account. Some joint filers, college students and retirees, among others, may end up repaying all or part of the credit this tax season.

OUTlaw, the student- run LGBT awareness, advocacy, support, and social group at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, will host “Queer in the Midwest,” the annual Midwest LGBT law conference Feb. 25-27

Top experts in Chinese law will gather at School of Law Thursday, Feb. 25, for a panel discussion and open public forum. The event, co-sponsored by the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. A live webcast also will be available through the program.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit will hold a special session from 9-11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the School of Law’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The public is invited to hear three appeals cases related to a class action suit regarding organic food labeling; claims of false arrest, slander and malicious prosecution; and a dispute over a fee agreement between two law firms.

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in a series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars to be held biweekly through April 26.